Destination: England
Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Alcohol Linked to Rise in British Arrests Abroad’
by Eva Holland | 08.14.08 | 10:40 AM ET
This just in from the Guardian: Alcohol appears to have played a role in the recent arrests of many Brits on holiday. Drunkenness leading to bad behavior? Who’d have guessed?
Related on World Hum:
* British Couple Arrested for Having Sex on Beach in Dubai
Photo by emifaulk via Flickr (Creative Commons)
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Yahoo! BuzzUnsentimental Journeys: Wrestling With Paul Theroux
by Bronwen Dickey | 08.13.08 | 11:53 AM ET
Bronwen Dickey considers "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Great Railway Bazaar"
Shakespearean Theater Unearthed in London?
by Valerie Conners | 08.11.08 | 2:42 PM ET
Archaeologists in London announced that they unearthed the 16th-century remains of a playhouse believed to be “The Theater,” where many of the Bard’s early plays were originally performed and where he acted onstage with the theater troupe, Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
New Travel Book: ‘The Wild Places’
by Frank Bures | 08.07.08 | 10:41 AM ET
Author: Robert Macfarlane
Released in U.S.: June 2008
Travel genre: Wilderness travel
Territory covered: Britain, Ireland
William Wordsworth: Poet, Travel Guidebook Writer
by Jim Benning | 08.05.08 | 10:35 AM ET
Yes, the Romantic poet dabbled in guidebook writing. In 1835, he published “A Guide Through the District of the Lakes in the North of England,” the very same region where he once wandered lonely as a cloud. That’s but one of the interesting bits in Slate’s list of the 10 oddest guidebooks ever published. Why, exactly, did Wordsworth write the book? Garrison Keillor suggests he had money problems. No word on whether writing the guidebook condemned Wordsworth to eternal damnation. I’m thinking his poetry just might have saved him that fate.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘The Worst Guidebook Writer Ever’?
* Q&A With Thomas Kohnstamm: The Firestorm Around ‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’
Video: How To Speak American
by Michael Yessis | 07.21.08 | 5:37 PM ET
BBC correspondent Stephen Robb gives it a noble effort, which leaves him looking “something like Jack Nicholson’s The Joker with a lobotomised, vacant look in the eyes.”
Ken Livingstone’s London: An Ex-Mayor’s Tour
by Eva Holland | 07.10.08 | 4:53 PM ET
Ken Livingstone, the colorful ex-mayor who handed over power in London this past May, shares his favorite London spots in the Guardian. The list is a good one; it’s varied and thoughtful, and shows his decades-long relationship with the city. We’ve talked a lot lately about the future of guidebooks and who, exactly, is most qualified to write them—if Livingstone’s list is anything to go by, could retired local politicians be the secret sauce the industry is looking for?
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Where on Earth is a Casual Public-Transport Drinker To Go?’
* TripAdvisor to Athens: Dirty Isn’t Sexy or Cool, Unless You’re London
Photo by 13bobby via Flickr (Creative Commons)
England to World: We’re Funny!
by Michael Yessis | 06.25.08 | 12:22 PM ET
It’s true. Even the country’s latest motto is funny (“No Motto Please, We’re British.”). So it makes sense the country is turning to its most comedic citizens and “funny spots” to promote travel.
In Britain, Foreign Currency ATMs on the Rise
by Eva Holland | 06.17.08 | 10:41 AM ET
Interesting pilot program: Britain’s Post Office will be rolling out foreign currency ATMS that dispense U.S. dollars or euros on a trial basis at 13 locations in an effort to reduce the wait times at its foreign exchange counters. According to the Times Online, 21 Marks and Spencer locations have been offering similar machines since January, and HSBC is set to install still more of them in train stations and shopping malls.
Photo by bradipo via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Arthur Frommer on ‘Touristic Vandalism’
by Eva Holland | 06.09.08 | 12:17 PM ET
In March, we heard about the Finnish tourist who chipped an earlobe off one of Easter Island’s moai. Then, two weeks ago, mystery vandals took a hammer and screwdriver to Stonehenge. Vandalism at major cultural sites is nothing new, but with these recent incidents, it’s had a higher profile lately. In this Globe and Mail story, Arthur Frommer offers a possible solution:
The Latest Haven for the Homeless: Heathrow’s Terminal 5
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.06.08 | 3:17 PM ET
Homeless advocate Howard Sinclair says he’s helped and counseled at least 100 itinerant Londoners living at the terminal in the last three months, according to NPR. Heathrow officials are evicting people, as U.S. airport officials are forced to do. But the brass at London’s biggest airport have also hired specialists like Sinclair to help the homeless find homes and support.
Related on World Hum:
* Terminal Men Spend Almost Seven Weeks Living in Delhi Airport
* Tale of a Travel Martyr
* What a Difference Between the quality of the Items Handed out by Air France
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
by Eva Holland | 06.06.08 | 11:59 AM ET
Forget about “How To ‘Green’ Your Travels” or “5 Ways To Stretch Your Holiday Dollars.” German newspaper Bild has taken the “How To” article to a whole new level, printing a guide to help its readers avoid British tourists abroad. According to the Independent, the guide was a response to a successful lawsuit by a British traveler, who sued his tour operator after finding himself at a resort full of Germans. Just another beautiful We Are The World moment in international travel.
‘Where on Earth is a Casual Public-Transport Drinker To Go?’
by Eva Holland | 05.30.08 | 11:26 AM ET
That’s the question on Laura Barton’s mind now that London’s new mayor has announced a plan to ban drinking on the city’s underground train system. In The Guardian this week, she rails against the ban and laments the state of public-transit-drinking worldwide.
Photo by slimmer_jimmer via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Vandals Chip Away at Stonehenge
by Michael Yessis | 05.23.08 | 11:54 AM ET
The at-large suspects used a hammer and a screwdriver to remove a coin-sized piece of the 5,000-year-old monument. The BBC notes that in the 19th century, such an act wouldn’t be uncommon. From its story: “At one time, chisels would be handed to people visiting Stonehenge, so they could chip away at the ancient monument to get their own souvenirs.”
Related on World Hum:
* The Great Wall, Siem Reap, Stonehenge Getting Too Much Love
Photo: Reebok Embraces Bollywood
by Jim Benning | 05.14.08 | 1:42 PM ET
Perhaps it’s due to jet lag—I just arrived in London and have been forcing myself to stay awake to adjust to the time change. Or maybe it’s because I was reading The Post-American World on the flight over and had just come across this line: “The biggest movie industry, in terms of both movies made and tickets sold, is Bollywood, not Hollywood.” Whatever the reason, I was taken with this shrinking-planet shop-window display I just passed in Soho: